Sunday, August 05, 2012

Are all the good Christians only members of the Republican Party?

If a friend asks you what faith you belong to, you might say "I'm Catholic" or "I'm Protestant" or I'm Jewish" or any one of a number of other religions, but would you ever say "I'm Republican"?

Unless you're Dr. James Dobson, probably not.

So why does this popular minister of faith give radio presentations that imply that only political leaders who side against abortion or gay marriage should be followed by members of the Christian religions?

Recently he invited Dr. Lawrence White to discuss the rise of Naziism in Adolf Hitler's Germany. The general agreement of the show's participants was that the failure of Christians in Germany at that time to pay attention to the warning signs, allowed the evil that was Adolf Hitler to carry out the Holocaust. They compared it to today's current events, inferring that President Obama's acceptance of gay marriage is akin to Adolf Hitler's rise and the tragic historical consequences carried out by his evil regime.

Although he may appear to have good intentions to some, what he is actually doing is itself an offense against President Obama, religion and our Constitution.

Anyone who equates the systematic genocidal mass murder of millions of innocent men, women and children, just for their religious beliefs to current events in this Presidential election, is insane. In trying to place fear and indecision into the minds of Christian voters, his implication is that President Obama is so evil that a Christian should never vote for him.

Although our fore-fathers intended for God to have a place in America's faith, Dr Dobson's actions are close to what the founders of our Country wanted to avoid regarding religion. When a religious organization attempts to influence votes by drawing such a ridiculous comparison they are trying to determine for us which political party Jesus would have wanted us to vote for. It's sacrilegious, blasphemous and dishonest.

If I am Christian, should I not be a Democrat? If I am Christian should I not be tolerant to other's diversity? If I am Christian should I want to prevent others from receiving the same benefits offered to heterosexual married couples?

Should I be concerned about other policies that Republicans have that conflict with my Christian teachings or should I just trust that abortion and gay marriage are the only issues that should influence my decision?

For example, Republicans are failing to help the needy by removing food stamp programs from millions of children. They reject giving healthcare assistance to millions of poor and previously uninsured Americans. They want to reduce medicare benefits to the elderly. They want to force the middle-class to pay for the tax benefits of the wealthy. They lie by taking President Obama's words out of context and producing continuous lies in political ads. They lie about creating jobs. They continue the job creator lie so that they can get government legislation to increase their wealth. All of this is going on in an economy where the rich have done very well. Should I ignore the fact that many corporations pay no taxes and lead the charge on screaming about tax rates that are too high. Last time I checked Greed was considered a deadly sin in Christianity! Should we place Romney and the Republicans in the same category as some of the people that the Republicans and the Romney campaign are beholden to? People like Karl Rove, Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist who have had close associations with Jack Abramoff, the Republican lobbyist who has served jail time for his activities around bribes and illegal affairs with certain Congressmen.

If the Republican Party evolved into the Christian right because Republican Christians at one time were proud of their party, then perhaps these same Christians should take a fresh look at the new Republican Party. Look deep into the souls of your leaders and then tell me if they represent the teachings of Christianity.

At the heart of any good person is concern for others that are less fortunate. If Christians learn anything from Jesus' life, it is that selflessness and a desire to love others is the true value of a person and a central theme of Christianity. Christianity doesn't belong to any one political party. Some of us profess to believe and others pretend. You be the judge.